Digital marketing is taking the world by storm, in fact, it has been reported that come 2024, digital marketing spend will have almost doubled since 2019! It’s clear that the need to be ahead of the curve is imperative, and, commonly, this is where a digital marketing agency comes into play.
A digital marketing agency offers strategy and specialist skills, but for the bits in between, there are plenty of free high-quality marketing tools that can help you plan, streamline, and execute your marketing and put you on the right path for great results.
After 5 years as an Account Manager at different marketing agencies, I have collated my favourite tools that have helped me keep organised, be creative and keep me with the latest data. And best of all, they all offer a FREE version!
Photopea
Photopea is a free online photo editing tool. Of course, it may not live up to the likes of photoshop or other paid counterparts, but it’s a great alternative if you only need to scratch the surface when it comes to graphic design!
Why I love it – You can use this without an internet connection, if the original set-up is completed. I also love that Photopea has the advantage of being able to open and edit various file types, like:
- PSD
- AI
- XD
- Sketch
- XCF files
- RAW pictures
- GIF
- JPG
- PNG
- TIFF
- SVG
Canva
Another graphic design app; with Canva, you don’t need any experience to design visual materials. This tool is great to create social media graphics, simple videos, presentations, slides, posters and other visual assets!
Why I love it – With a wide range of customisable templates and royalty free images, you can easily edit the fonts and colours on a template or create your own templates. Quick and easy, you can pick a template, drop in your copy and images, make a few tweaks and voila!
Unsplash
Do you spend too long looking for cost-free imagery? Your pain is taken away thanks to Unsplash, the home of freely usable imagery.
Why I love it – this one speaks for itself. Although the collections may be a little more limited than paid sites, Unsplash has a huge collection of images from different categories, from pets to businesses!
Trello
Hello, organisation! Trello is the ultimate (and my personal favourite) task management tool. The to-do list allows you to easily collaborate with other team members. It’s quick to set up, simple to use and even easier to maintain. Whether you use Trello internally or externally, as a personal to-do list or a workflow, Trello is a great, free tool to use.
Why I love it – For me, the love of Trello is due to the ease this platform provides. Trello allows you to create various boards, for example, I have a board for each individual project or client I work with. Once your board is set up you can then create lists; some examples include:
- to do, completed and done
- SEO, PPC & Social
Once you have set up your lists, you can assign cards to team members, providing them with due dates and coloured labels to identify the group it belongs to. There is more than one way to use this tool, but once you find the way that works for you, you’ll never look back!
Hotjar
Do you need help to gain insight into your customer’s behaviour? Hotjar uses tools to help you connect the dots between what is happening on your site and why it’s happening:
- Heatmaps – Using this feature allows you to discover where users click, move and scroll on your site. The idea is that the colours on the heatmap are the areas which are getting the most attention, you can hover over the areas to see the exact number of clicks.
- Recordings – Sticking points on your site? These playbacks allow you to see where users are scrolling, moving the mouse (literally showing you a red line following the mouse) and where people are rage-clicking on your site. This will help you see the full journey a user is taking.
- Feedback – Often, a simple request for feedback from real users is a huge insight! Are you receiving negative feedback? Watch the recordings to see where it all breaks down.
- Surveys – The customer is always right, right? Capture feedback by launching surveys on your site.
Why I love it – This qualitative data will help fill the gaps and add extensively to your current analytic tools. Although the free basic option offers limited access, its still a great starting point to the world of customer behaviour.
Well, there you have it. In a space where there are thousands of applications, I have cherry-picked and spilt the beans on my personal favourites – the ones I have considered to be hidden gems and genuinely supported me in my Account Management years.
Looking to revolutionise your digital marketing? Get in touch with our friendly team today to find out how we can help!